Fusilli Member since Aug-09-04 · Last seen Oct-16-25 Mariano Sana, Argentinian by birth, in the US since 1995. Naturalized US citizen. I hold a PhD in Demography from the University of Pennsylvania, and I am an associate professor of Sociology at Vanderbilt University: https://as.vanderbilt.edu/sociology.... Previously, I was at Louisiana State University (2003-2009). My published academic work can be seen here: https://vanderbilt.academia.edu/Mar.... My review of Gary Alan Fine's "Players and Pawns" is here: https://www.academia.edu/69647923/P.... My avatar comes from a cartoon of mine drawn by a friend. My username, besides the pasta, is my late cat's name (he died in March 2021, age 19), inspired by this cartoon: https://condenaststore.com/featured.... My first tournament was at age 12 in 1979. I finished 8th in the Argentine junior championship in 1985. So, I was good enough, but not great. (That same evaluation might still be apt today, on a good day.) Unfortunately, no game scores survived from those years. I started to play again after grad school. I play between 0 and 4 tournaments per year. I won the Louisiana State Championship in 2007. I lost the first game and then won six in a row. This was my last round win, where I got lucky after playing the opening pretty terribly: J Rousselle vs M Sana, 2007. I also won the under 2200 section of the US Open in 2014. Again, Swiss gambit. Lost the first one, then won five in a row, lost game 7 (M Sana vs J Sheng, 2014, a rather atypical game), and won games 8 and 9. My last round win was featured as a Tuesday puzzle: K Gulamali vs M Sana, 2014. (Try it! Black to play at move 29. But you can also do black to play at move 22 as a principled-move puzzle.) I'd say that I am essentially a good but inconsistent player. My playing style is a mix of strategic and tactical. I'm usually very willing to sac a pawn or allow positional weaknesses in exchange for active piece play. For years I hovered around 2200, down to mid 2100s a few years ago after a disaster and a 50-point loss at the 2019 World Open. (Aging and MS fatigue had much to do with that.) On good days, I have had nice wins: T Bartell vs M Sana, 2009, R Burnett vs M Sana, 2012, M Sana vs C Blocker, 2014, M Sana vs R Burnett, 2015. But on a bad day, I can play horribly and lose against whoever is sitting in front of me. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in 2011, but it didn't cause me trouble until 2018/9. I have a weak right leg (I often use a cane now) and I fatigue easily. Medication, well-timed naps, and exercise help. I play blitz games on chess.com under the username RealFusilli. My participation on this website goes through ebbs and flows, and the majority of my posts are about chess. I often post on my own forum just to keep records for myself. Everyone is welcome to visit and share! (But please don't post about politics here.)

Fusilli has kibitzed 6255 times to chessgames   [more...]

Oct-07-25 Hikaru Nakamura    Fusilli: Back in the day, I would sometimes resign by picking up my king and placing it in front of my opponent. And one day I read that a GM (I think Sosonko) did the same thing, while saying, "here's, it's yours." So, sure, one for the crowd, why not.      Sep-15-25 L Mendonca vs M Yilmaz, 2024    Fusilli: <perfidious> <There have been POTDs presented by <cg> which have featured positions which were analogous to practical games rather than guess the move> Not sure I follow. To me, Guess-the-Move games do reflect practical play, since you have to make every move, ...      Sep-12-25 Leon Mendonca   Fusilli: Mendonca, no doubt originally spelled with a c-cedilla instead of a c, is a Portuguese surname, a reminder that Portugal colonized parts of India since as early as the 16th century.      Sep-12-25 A Mittal vs Y K Erdogmus, 2025    Fusilli: <FSR: Insane! The kid is a genius! I say he's a future world champion.> I share your enthusiasm but not your evaluation. The combination is absolutely beautiful but not hard to see for a strong player. It's a straight set of forced moves. I think it would be a Friday puzzle ...      Sep-10-25 Fusilli chessforum    Fusilli: <OCF> I'm kind of proud of myself I got it. The word puzzle was apt! Where did you source it from?      Sep-07-25 Karpov vs K Rogoff, 1971   Fusilli: Vintage Karpov gives a lesson on superior positional play. Every piece going to the right square at the right time. Or pretty close to that.      Sep-07-25 S Marangunic vs K Rogoff, 1971    Fusilli: <FTB> OK, here we go. I thought 16.Bxf6 was dubious. Why give up the bishop pair in a fairly open position? 16.Ne3 looks better to me. I was wondering what could be wrong with 23.Nb5. It turns out that after 23...Bf8 24.Rxd7 Rxd7 25.Nxa7 meets ...Bc5 followed by ...Rd2, which ...      Sep-07-25 Fridrik Olafsson    Fusilli: <perf> oh, right, I see      Sep-06-25 Peter Enders    Fusilli: <He died on his birthday :( > Very sad. It reminded me of this demographic research article I saw decades ago: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/143... Abstract: <This study of deaths from natural causes examined adult mortality around the birthday for two samples, ...      Sep-03-25 So vs D Gukesh, 2025   Fusilli: <beatgiant> Because I didn't see it? Or I like complicating things, especially my life? Who knows!

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My Facerook Wall

< Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 85 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing> May-25-23    Fusilli: <OCF> Yes sir! Jun-04-23    Fusilli: Zhigalko vs Dubiel Bad Homburg 2018 click for larger view White to play (It's in New in Chess 2018, No.7. It doesn't say which Zhigalko.) Jun-06-23    Fusilli: Ok, so... It's 1.Qc5+ Kd8 2.a5! Zugzwang! Jun-06-23    OhioChessFan: Here's a mind-blowing endgame composition. Once you figure out the idea, it's not that tough, but it looks impossible at first glance. White to play and win. click for larger view Jun-06-23    OhioChessFan: Per Zhigalko-Dubiel, I kept wanting to start with Qb4+ which is the same idea but doesn't work. Obviously, the Queen on c5 keeps her eye on a7 and c8. The Rook changing from being a pinning piece to a forking piece is a nice touch. Jun-06-23    Fusilli: <OCF> Zhigalko-Dubiel stumped me. That endgame seems truly crazy. Without the pawns, it's a draw. What I see is that even if white captures the a-pawn, capturing the b-pawn seems to put white's rook in a bad square. And I can't imagine why black couldn't draw easily anyway. Time to make dinner. I'll get back to it later or tomorrow. Jun-08-23    Fusilli: <OCF> That had me totally baffled, so I gave up and asked the computer for the solution. I can't believe it's so simple! My mind was stuck on the wrong idea. It happens often. Jun-08-23    OhioChessFan: It really is amazing. I think the best way to understand the basic idea is to pretend the Rooks are off the board and it's Black to move. Jun-09-23    saffuna: I figured the idea was to force black to play a6-a5. But I didn't see how. Jun-12-23    Fusilli: This one is from Jacob Aagard (2007). White to play. How do you win it? click for larger view Jun-12-23    Fusilli: I reposted it on Aagaard's page: Jacob Aagaard (And I had misspelled this most amazing last name! Sorry, GM!) Jun-12-23    OhioChessFan: Thought process in real time. First try is Ke5 which makes Black King stay on the third rank. But Kf3 and the Pawn has a clear path while the White King is a useless bystander. In fact, Black may play Ke3 and use the King as a shield from the Rook's checks on the 8th rank. So Ke5 is out. Has to be Rf8 which forces the King on to the h file. There the Pawn is a problem in that it blocks escape squares for the King. Here's a position, not best play to get here, but the mate threat idea seems to be the point of the puzzle. click for larger view Black can't play Kh4 or g2 or he'll be mated. Okay, need to look some more. Rf8 Kh2 Ke5 so far. Jun-12-23    Fusilli: <OCF> The thought process is correct. White's first move must be 1.Rf8 to prevent black from "shouldering" the white king (blocking the path toward the pawn). But notice that, since white moved the rook away from the g-file, the black king does not need to protect the pawn, so it's 1...Kh2, not Kh3. Then what? Jun-13-23    Fusilli: OK, here it is. click for larger view 1.Rf8 (If 1.Ke5, Black goes for "shouldering," i.e. stopping the white king by going towards it. In this case, 1...Kf3, and if 2.Rf8+ Ke3.) 1...Kh2 2.Ke5 g3 3.Kf4 g2 4.Rh8+ Kg1 5.Kg3 Kf1 6.Kf8+ Kg1 7.Rf7 (If 7.Rf2 Kh1 draws--diagram below) click for larger view 7...Kh1 click for larger view 8.Rh7+ Kg1 9.Rh2 winning. Jun-13-23    Fusilli: I posted a slightly more detailed solution, and with better diagrams, in the Jacob Aagaard page. Jun-23-23    Fusilli: 3/2 min blitz on chess.com. I am black. (Puzzle at the bottom.) click for larger view My knight is optimally placed, and his bishop is not great, but I couldn't find anything. So: 28... Re2, with the obvious Nxe3 threat. It looks smart because white has only one good response, and he played it: 29. Kf1 OK, so, I go back: 29... Rb2 click for larger view The idea is that if he plays 30.Kg1, again the only good move, well... I am where I was, and I think again. But in the meantime, I gave him two chances to go wrong. Alas! He took me up on the offer, and here he played 30.Bc1. Black to play (easy) click for larger view Jun-23-23    chancho: Easy, yes. Ne3+ mate on the next move... Jun-23-23    Fusilli: <chancho> Right. The beauty of it is that white has five responses, leading to five mates. Or, if you want, one mate and four versions of the other one. Jun-24-23    Fusilli: I revised my blurb, and fixed the link to my review of Gary Alan Fine's book, "Players and Pawns: How Chess Builds Community and Culture." The previous link led to the journal's paywall page. The new link (https://www.academia.edu/69647923/P...) leads to my academia.edu page, where I uploaded the review. Jun-24-23    Fusilli: Is anyone planning to play the US Senior Open in Elmhurst, IL, July 21-23? I am. It'd be nice to meet any fellow CG'er. We could scream at each other in person! Jun-24-23    OhioChessFan: Oops, forgot about the position. 1. Rf8 Kh2 2. Ke5 g3 3. Kf4 g2 4. Rh8+ Kg1 seems mandatory. Will look again, promise not to wait. Jun-25-23    Fusilli: 3/2m blitz on chess.com. I am black. click for larger view Black to play. Jun-25-23    moronovich: 1-c4 (!) threatens d3 next or c3 followed by d3, depending on whites answer. Almost anything wins after 1-c4, as far as I can see. BTW : I wish you a good trip to US Senior Open, while I enjoy Tour de France here in DK ! Jun-25-23    Fusilli: <moronovich: 1-c4 (!) threatens d3 next or c3 followed by d3, depending on whites answer.> Well, yes to 1...c4, and if white takes 2.bxc4, then 2...c5 click for larger view And white is in zugzwang. White regained the opposition with 3.Kg3 Kd4 4.f5 Kxf5 5.Kf3 click for larger view But the pawn on d4 means the opposition is useless after 5...Ke5. <BTW : I wish you a good trip to US Senior Open, while I enjoy Tour de France here in DK !> Thanks! Enjoy the Tour de France! Jun-26-23    Fusilli: 3/2m blitz on chess.com. I am black. This is an interesting "find the best move" puzzle. (Medium-difficult.) Black to play click for larger view The last two moves were 42...Nf3-h4+ 43.Kg2-g3. The natural idea is to try to exploit this checkmate theme: click for larger view We would get there with Rg1+ in this position, if the knight on h4 were protected: click for larger view Again, it's about finding the best move, as there is a clear best. I didn't get it. I had only 5 seconds at this point (plus the increment). (I lost the game.) It took me some minutes (3? 4?) to find it after I reviewed the game. BTW, the "review the game" feature on chess.com is great. It evaluates your moves and asks you if you want to try to find a better one. So, you can stop there and think. Good tool for training and learning. Jump to page #   (enter # from 1 to 112) search thread:    < Earlier Kibitzing  · PAGE 85 OF 112 ·  Later Kibitzing>

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